Short-range or gallery cartridge.



No. 788,266. PATENTLD APR. 25, 1905.

T. S. KING & J. E. BELL.

SHORT RANGE 0R GALLERY CARTRIDGE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 9, 1904.

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Patented April 25, 1905.

NiTnn STATES PATENT Orrrca.

THOMAS S. KING AND JAMES E. BELL, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

SHORT-RANGE OR GALLERY CARTRIDGE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 788,266, dated April 25, 1905.

Application filed April 9, 1904:. Serial No. 202,398.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, THOMAS S. KING and J AMES E. BELL, citizens of the United States, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Short-Range or Gallery Cartridges, of which the following is a specification.

This cartridge is especially intended for gallery use in rifles or pistols.

The short-range practice-cartridges now in general use for United States service and other high-power rifles are very unsatisfactory. The practice charge of smokeless powder, usually about two and one-half grains, distributes itself in a.thin layer over the bottom of the cartridge-shell below the path of the blast from the primer, so that the bullet is often forced into the barrel by the explosion of the fulminate in the primer before the powder is ignited. The bullet is then expelled from the barrel before the powder is fully burned with a low velocity, which causes it to fall below the point aimed at. In some cases the powder fails to ignite, and the bullet is merely driven into and sticks in the barrel. Another objection to the usual practice-cartridges, especially those with a bottle-neck shell, is the fact that the neck of the shell must be provided with an annular indentation or series of indentations to prevent the bullet being forced into the powder-chamber of the shell. Special tools are therefore requisite to enable the shooter to reload the empty shells of his high-power cartridges for gallery use.

The new cartridge, which entirely overcomes the specified difiiculties, comprises the usual brass shell with central primer, a combined powder charge and bullet-stop, preferably a tube of explosive, nitrocellulose paper arranged longitudinally withinand resting against the base of the shell, and a bullet, either spherical or conical, supported in the mouth of the shell and seated upon the end of the explosive-tube. The end of the tube in 1 front of the primer is preferably closed in order that the blasttherefrom may impinge diprimer.

rectly upon the explosive material and instantly ignite it.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical axial section of a United States service thirty-caliber gallery-cartridge, showing a tube of explosive paper with a closed bottom resting upon the base of the shell in front of the primer and a spherical bullet seated upon the tube. Fig. 2 is a vertical axial section of the same cartridge with an open-bottomed powder-tube of explosive paper, and Fig. 3 is a vertical axial section of a forty-five-caliber Springfield gallery-car tridge with a closed-bottom powder-tube.

The cartridge shown in Figs. 1 and 2 comprises the usual bottle-neck brass shell 1 with a central primer 2. A tube 8, of thin flexible explosive material, preferably nitrocellulose paper of predetermined thickness and area, is arranged longitudinally within the shell with its end resting against the base of the shell. The tube shown in Fig. 1 is folded inward at the end 4 to provide a closed bottom, thus bringing the explosive material directly in front of the primer. The end i of the tube shown in Fig. 2 is open. The powder-tube is preferably of such diameter that its front end 5 fits closely within and is supported by the neck of the shell. The bullet 6 is seated in the neck and upon the end 5 of the powder-tube, which thus serves as a stop to prevent the bullet from being forced into the powder-chamber.

The shell 1 of the forty-five-caliber cartridge shown in Fig. 3 has an inwardly-projecting primer-seat. The powder-tube 3 is precisely similar to that shown in Fig. 1, having a closed bottom 4 in front of the primer-seat.

The combined powder-tube and bullet-stop, which is the novel feature of this cartridge, can be manufactured by automatic machinery and sold at a low price. It not only gives a perfect practice-cartridge, but enables the shells to be easily reloaded without any tools except those for removing and seating the The neck of the shell does not need to be indented or cannelured to prevent the ball from passing into the powder-chamber. The same shell can therefore be used both for full and partial charges. In reloading the powder-tube is merely dropped into the shell, and the bullet is then pushed into the month until it rests upon the end of the tube. The guncotton paper, which should be of suitable and uniform thickness, can also be sold in the form of rolled strips whose width is equal to the length of the tube or as rectangular pieces of the proper size for a tube. The paper can be rolled up by the user and simply inserted into the cartridge-shell, which will then hold the base of the explosive, may be nitrated' either before or after it is formed into the paper sheets.

While the invention has been described in connection with cartridges for small-arms, it is evidently applicable to the larger cartridges used in ordnance in loading them for use in practice and at short ranges.

We claim 1. A short-range or gallery cartridge, comprising a shell having a primer, and a powder charge consisting of a tube of thin, flexible, explosive material of predetermined thickness and area, arranged longitudinally within said shell, as set forth.

2. A short-range or gallery cartridge, comprising a shell having a primer, a tube of thin, flexible, explosive material of predetermined thickness and area, arranged longitudinally within said shell, and a bullet seated upon said tube, as set forth.

3. A short-range or gallery cartridge, comprising a bottle-neck shell having a primer, and a powder charge consisting of a tube of thin, flexible, explosive material of predetermined thickness and area, supported longitudinally in the neck of said shell, as set forth.

4. A short-range or gallery cartridge, comprising a bottle-neck shell having a primer, a powder charge consisting of a tube of thin, flexible, explosive material of predetermined thickness and area, supported longitudinally in the neck of said shell, and a bullet seated upon said tube, as set forth.

5. A short-range or gallery cartridge, comprising a shell having a primer, and a powder charge consisting of a tube of explosive, nitrocellulose paperof predetermined thickness and area, arranged longitudinally within said shell, as set forth.

6. A short-range or gallery cartridge, comprising a shell having a primer, a tube of explosive, nitrocellulose paper of predetermined thickness and area, arranged longitudinally within said shell, and a bullet seated upon said tube, as set forth.

7 A short-range or gallery cartridge, comprising a bottle-neck shell having a primer,

and a powder charge consisting of a tube of explosive, nitrocellulose paper of predetermined thickness and area, supported longitudinally in the neck of said shell, as set forth.

8. A short-range or gallery cartridge, comprising a bottle-neck shell having a primer, a powder charge consisting of a tube of explosive, nitrocellulose paper of predetermined thickness and area, supported longitudinally in the neck of said shell, and a bullet seated upon said tube, as set forth.

9. A cartridge, comprising a shell having a primer, and a tube of explosive, nitrocellulose paper arranged longitudinally within said shell and having a bottom in front of said primer, as set forth.

10. A cartridge, comprising a shell having a primer, a-tube of explosive, nitrocellulose paper arranged longitudinally within said shell and having a bottom in front of said primer, and a bullet seated upon said tube, as set forth.

11. A cartridge, comprising a bottle-neck shell having a primer, and a tube of explosive, nitrocellulose paper supported longitudinally in the neck of said shell and having a bottom in front of said primer, as set forth.

12. A cartridge, comprising a bottle-neck shell having a primer, a tube of explosive,

nitrocellulose paper supported longitudinally in the neck of said shell and having a bottom in front of said primer, and a bullet seated upon said tube, as set forth.

13. A short-range or gallery cartridge, comprisinga shell having a primer, and a powder charge consisting of a piece of thin, flexible, explosive material of predetermined thickness and area, arranged longitudinally within said shell, as set forth.

14:. A short-range or gallery cartridge, comprising a shell having a primer, and a powder charge consisting of an explosive in the form of a piece of thin, flexible material of predetermined thickness and area, as set forth.

1 5. A short-range or gallery cartridge,com prising a shell having a primer, and a powder charge consisting of a rolled piece of thin, flexible, explosive material arranged longitudinally within said shell, as set forth.

16. A short-range or gallery cartridge, comprising a shell having a primer, a bullet, and a powder charge and bullet-stop of thin, flexible,explosive material of predetermined thickness and area, as set forth.

17. A short-range or gallery cartridge,comprising a shell having a primer, a powder charge consisting of a piece of explosive material of predetermined thickness and area, arranged longitudinally within said shell, and a bullet seated upon the end of said piece, as set forth.

18. A short-range or gallery cartridge, comprising a shell having a primer, a powder charge consisting of a piece of thin, flexible, Within said shell, and a bullet seated upon the explosive material of predetermined thickness end of said piece, as set forth.

and area, arranged longitudinally Within said In testimony whereof We afiix our signatures shell, and a bullet seated upon the end of said in presence of two Witnesses. 5 piece, as $613 forth. S

19. A short-range or gallery cartridge,ootnprising a shell having a primer, a powder charge consisting of a rolled piece of thin, Witnesses: flexible, explosive material of predetermined EUGENE A. BYRNES, I0 thickness and area, arranged longitudinally CLINTON P. TOWNSEND.

JAMES E. BELL. 

